| U.S., Iran send conflicting signals on their disputes Posted: 16 Jul 2019 07:11 AM PDT  Tensions have risen since U.S. President Donald Trump last year abandoned the major powers' nuclear deal with Iran under which Tehran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for the lifting of global sanctions crippling its economy. Washington has since reimposed draconian sanctions to throttle Iran's oil trade in a "maximum pressure" policy to force Tehran to agree stricter limits on its nuclear capacity, curb its ballistic missile program and end support for proxy forces in a regional power struggle with U.S.-backed Gulf Arabs.
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| Off-duty New Jersey police lieutenant in custody after fatal shooting at ex-wife's home Posted: 15 Jul 2019 11:56 AM PDT  An off-duty Newark police lieutenant surrendered to police after a shooting at his ex-wife's home. Newark has since suspended him without pay.
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| What If America Lost a Carrier in a War with Iran? Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:41 PM PDT  The Navy simply lacks enough ships and aircraft to meet the increasing demands of its global mission. The recent oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman reinforce the need to reestablish a highly visible U.S. naval deterrent in the Middle East. For eight months last year, no aircraft carrier strike group plied the region, the longest such interruption this millennium. With the United States needing a more robust posture against Iran and confronting renewed challenges in Asia and Europe, several immediate measures and concerted longer-term efforts are critical to ensure America has the carriers it needs.The requirement to maintain carrier presence in the Middle East is a critical part of a broader national security strategy, in which U.S. global security interests necessitate a worldwide force presence. Indeed, the Navy's mission demands remain as high as those of the Cold War, calling on ships to be everywhere seemingly at once, but today's fleet is less than half the size it was 30 years ago.During the Obama administration, a "rebalance" supposedly allowed the Pentagon to focus on Asia and Europe while washing its hands of the Middle East. In reality, we never effectively rebalanced forces in the Indo-Pacific, and the situation on the ground forced us to remain deeply involved in the Middle East. Now with a growing Iranian threat, it would be imprudent to suddenly abandon the region, even as we face renewed challenges in the Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean.(This first appeared in June 2019.)
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| $800,000 spent in one day on Malaysia ex-PM's cards, court hears Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:03 AM PDT  Credit cards belonging to Malaysia's disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak were used to spend over $800,000 in one day at a luxury jeweller in Italy, a court has heard. The 2014 spending spree is the latest evidence of what critics say is the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by Najib after he and his cronies allegedly plundered state coffers. The claims played a major part in Najib's government losing power at elections last year.
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| No More Social Media for You, Irked Judge Tells Roger Stone Posted: 16 Jul 2019 03:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A federal judge who has warned Roger Stone to stop criticizing the criminal case against him on social media finally banned him from the platforms outright.Prosecutors had complained to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson that the longtime Republican party operative and former adviser to President Donald Trump has been using social media to assail the government's case, in violation of her February directive that he limit his comments to professing his innocence.Jackson read her new ruling from the bench, following a 45-minute recess from a contentious two-hour hearing."I've twice given you the benefit of the doubt," she told Stone, alluding to prior infractions, then added that he'd now forced his lawyers into contortions to contend he was in compliance with her prior order.Reprising a theme she raised in the case of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Jackson said Stone's behavior "had more to do with middle school than with a court of law" and banned him from posting on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and even from reposting or liking other people's content on the platforms.Read More: Who Framed Roger Stone? His Instagram Account Demands an AnswerStone is accused of lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks over its publication of material damaging to Democrat Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. He is also charged with obstruction and witness tampering.Stone's was the last indictment brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The case is now being prosecuted by the office of Washington U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu and is set for trial in November.Before issuing her final order, Jackson engaged in a prolonged sparring session with Stone counsel Bruce Rogow, who denied that his client had run afoul of the judge's prior ruling, even as she peppered him with Instagram posts and other examples of Stone's behavior she found questionable."I don't think any of these things pose a threat to a fair trial," Rogow told her.Stopping short of asking the court to send the political provocateur to jail, prosecutor Jonathan Kravis raised the idea of Jackson barring him from using social media. "What we are most concerned about is protecting the integrity of the jury pool," he said.Ultimately the judge did just that, scolding the defense for its effort to "ignore the exponential power" of social media and particularly what it means for Stone to take an item published by someone else and spread it "with his imprimatur."'Asking You Now'During an earlier portion of the Tuesday court hearing, Stone's lawyers argued that the government can't prove Russian agents hacked Democratic Party computers during the election, rendering 18 FBI search warrants based on that premise invalid and the evidence collected under them subject to exclusion.Defense attorney Robert Buschel told the judge the warrants weren't obtained in good faith. He said they were based only on reports by a private cybersecurity firm and the U.S. intelligence community's "high confidence" that the Russians were behind the theft of materials later published by WikiLeaks, not on factual certainty.Buschel called it "government doublespeak," suggesting the theft was just as likely to have been carried out by agents of China or the U.K.That line of argument drew a pointed response from Jackson, who repeatedly asked Buschel to identify a single statement in any of the filings that he saw as knowingly false or reckless -- and what that had to do with the charges against Stone."I'm asking you now," Jackson said after a series of exchanges with the attorney. "I want you to read me a false sentence."Russia ConnectionStone's lawyers have sought to discredit the Russia connection by suggesting that metadata on the WikiLeaks documents came from a portable memory device connected to a computer from which they were downloaded and not through a trans-Atlantic computer connection.Even accepting that premise, Jackson asked, how would that invalidate the warrants?Buschel replied that lack of conclusive proof of Russian hacking rendered Stone's allegedly false statements to the congressional committee probing the incursion "irrelevant."Prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky defended the warrants, telling Jackson that Stone's lawyers were "trying to backdoor a debunked conspiracy theory" about other potential hackers, relieving the Russians of culpability."There is voluminous evidence that the Russians were responsible for hacking" the Democratic Party computers, Zelinsky told the judge. In any event, he said, Stone was charged with lying to Congress and other offenses, not with being involved in the hacking.The case is U.S. v. Stone, 19-cr-18, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).(Updates with exchange about social media starting in eighth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A 3-year-old girl was asked to choose between her mom or dad as a border patrol agent tried to separate the family Posted: 15 Jul 2019 02:26 PM PDT  A young girl named Sofi was asked by a Border Patrol agent if she wanted to go with her mom, or her dad, as they tried to separate the migrant family.
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| Utah Police Find New Evidence in MacKenzie Lueck Case Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:55 PM PDT  Ayoola Ajayi made his first court appearance in connection to the murder of University of Utah student MacKenzie Lueck.
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| Iran says it came to help of disabled foreign oil tanker in the Gulf Posted: 16 Jul 2019 12:13 PM PDT ![Iran says it came to help of disabled foreign oil tanker in the Gulf]( "Iran says it came to help of disabled foreign oil tanker in the Gulf") Iranian navy vessels came to the assistance of a disabled foreign oil tanker in the Gulf that needed repairs, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the semi-official news agency ISNA. "(Spokesman) Abbas Mousavi said... that an international oil tanker was in trouble due to a technical fault in the Persian Gulf... After receiving a request for assistance, Iranian forces approached it and used a tugboat to pull it towards Iranian waters for the necessary repairs to be carried out," ISNA said. A CNN reporter tweeted earlier that U.S. intelligence increasingly believed that the UAE tanker MT Riah had been forced into Iranian waters by Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces.
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| Two alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein call on judge not to grant bail Posted: 15 Jul 2019 12:38 PM PDT  Two women who said they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein on Monday called on the judge handling the case not to grant bail to the disgraced financier. "I was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein at the age of 14," said Courtney Wild during the bail hearing. "He is a scary person to have walking on the streets," said Wild, who lives in Palm Beach, where Epstein has a residence.
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| All the Best Amazon Prime Day Tech Deals to Shop (So Far) Posted: 15 Jul 2019 09:10 AM PDT |
| In crowded 2020 Democratic field, a clear top tier emerges Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:56 PM PDT  No votes have been cast in the Democratic presidential nominating contest, but the winnowing has begun. A distinct top tier of candidates is breaking away from the pack in early polling and fundraising, building distance between themselves and the rest of the bloated field. Although the first nominating contest in Iowa is still more than six months away, tighter qualifying standards for the fall debates and cash flow problems have prompted questions about how many campaigns will still be operational next year.
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| European sites where US nuclear weapons held inadvertently revealed in Nato-linked document Posted: 16 Jul 2019 12:34 PM PDT  The European sites where America's nuclear weapons are stored has been inadvertently revealed in a document published by a Nato-linked body, according to Belgian media reports. The document written by for the Defense and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly made passing reference to the roughly 150 US nuclear weapons being stored in Europe. "These bombs are stored at six US and European bases - Kleine Brogel in Belgium, Büchel in Germany, Aviano and Ghedi-Torre in Italy, Volkel in The Netherlands, and Incirlik in Turkey," one line read, according to the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. The reference was reportedly contained in the original version of the document which was published in April but has since been removed in a final version which went out last week. The document, titled "A new era for nuclear deterrence? Modernisation, arms control and allied nuclear forces," was written by a Canadian senator. A Nato official told The Washington Post the document was not from Nato itself - it was published by the group's parliamentary assembly and added: "We do not comment on the details of Nato's nuclear posture." The presence of US nuclear weapons in Europe acted as a deterrent to the Soviet Union during the Cold War and also meant European countries would not need to develop their own versions. However for years the exact locations of the weapons have been a secret - though experts said their presence was widely known in the international community. The faux pas was picked up by the European press. Dutch broadcaster RTL News ran an article headlined: "Nato reveals the Netherlands's worst-kept secret." The reporting from De Morgen read: "Finally in black and white: There are American nuclear weapons in Belgium."
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| Qatar says French missile found among arms seized in Italy was sold 25 years ago Posted: 16 Jul 2019 12:29 PM PDT ![Qatar says French missile found among arms seized in Italy was sold 25 years ago]( "Qatar says French missile found among arms seized in Italy was sold 25 years ago") A French missile once owned by Qatar's military and found among a huge arsenal of weapons seized in Italy was sold by Qatar 25 years ago to a third country, Qatar's foreign ministry told Reuters on Tuesday. Italian police said on Monday that a French-made Matra air-to-air missile belonging to Qatar's armed forces was discovered during raids on neo-Nazi sympathizers. In a statement to Reuters, Qatar said the missile was part of a larger weapons sale made to a third "friendly" country 25 years earlier, though it did not identify the third country.
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| India-Pakistan spy case ruling due at world court Posted: 16 Jul 2019 07:17 PM PDT  The International Court of Justice will decide Wednesday on India's bid to remove an alleged spy from death row in Pakistan, in a case that has stoked tensions between the South Asian rivals. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was arrested in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage. The 48-year-old was then sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court in 2017, sparking outrage in India.
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| An anonymous Democratic group leaked a poll that shows swing voters deeply dislike Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the left wing, widening the party's rift Posted: 16 Jul 2019 06:12 AM PDT  The poll found that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had a 22% approval rating among 1,003 white non-college-educated voters who knew of her.
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| Neo-Nazi James Fields get life plus 419 years in state court for murder in Charlottesville Posted: 15 Jul 2019 12:41 PM PDT  James Alex Fields Jr., a neo-Nazi who rammed his car into counterprotesters of an alt-right rally, was sentenced to life in prison in state court.
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| Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe being transferred to psychiatric hospital raises hopes for release, husband says Posted: 17 Jul 2019 01:30 AM PDT  The husband of a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran has said her transfer to a hospital psychiatric ward raises hopes of her being released. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 40, was arrested at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport while travelling with their young daughter in April 2016 and sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spying, a charge she vehemently denies. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe said she was transferred from Evin prison on Monday to the psychiatric ward of Iman Khomeini hospital, in Tehran, where she is being held under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Mr Ratcliffe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the move could be a "prelude to her release". He said: "It's possible it's good news. It's possible it's a prelude to her release. It's also possible that it's a prelude to her getting treatment and all my fears are unfounded and she's getting treated and she's there for a while to get treatment and then will go back to prison. "But it's also possible that there's something else going on. One of the things that happened the last time she met the Revolutionary Guard, which was when she was on hunger strike, they were pressurising her to sign denouncements of the British Government and confess to various things. "So that's when I started getting worried - as yesterday carried on - is that are they isolating her again to squeeze her." Richard Ratcliffe outside the Iranian Embassy in London Her father said he visited the hospital on Tuesday but was not allowed to see his daughter and that she has not been allowed to contact her family. When Mr Ratcliffe first found out his wife was being moved to the hospital, he told Today: "We were quite hopeful that it was good thing, so we started off quite euphoric. "Now it's transpired that she's under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, it's worrying." Before being transferred, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe told relatives: "I was healthy and happy when I came to Iran to see my parents. "Three and a bit years later and I am admitted to a mental health clinic. "Look at me now, I ended up in an asylum. It should be an embarrassment. "Prison is getting harder and harder for me. I hate being played in the middle of a political game. I just hate it." In a press release, the Free Nazanin Campaign said it is not known what treatment she is receiving or how long she is expected to remain in hospital. The transfer comes after Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe went on hunger strike for 15 days last month in protest at her "unfair imprisonment". Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella Mr Ratcliffe also did not eat for the period in solidarity with his wife as he camped on the pavement outside the Iranian Embassy in London. The couple's five-year-old daughter Gabriella has stayed in Iran with her grandparents since her mother's arrest. Mr Ratcliffe said: "Nazanin hoped that her hunger strike would move the Iranian authorities, and it clearly has. "Hopefully her transfer to hospital means that she is getting treatment and care, despite my distrust of just what pressures can happen behind closed doors. It is unnerving when we don't know what is going on. "I am glad her dad has been down there to keep vigil outside. "Mental hospital has its worries at the best of times - but particularly when kept isolated and under the control of the Revolutionary Guard. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe timeline "Even now it still seems like games of power and control are being played by the Iranian authorities - even at the point of hospitalisation. "We hope again this is the beginning of the end. And yet, we were also here last summer. "We will be following up with the new prime minister whenever that is decided to ensure he takes personal responsibility for Nazanin's case." Earlier this year, Foreign Secretary and Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt granted Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe diplomatic protection in a bid to resolve her case.
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| Imagine If Russia and China Built Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carriers Together Posted: 15 Jul 2019 02:07 PM PDT  China could partner with Russia in order to develop nuclear-powered icebreakers.While the vessels would be useful in their own right, the main benefit could be to help Beijing refine reactor technology for use in a future nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post.The Chinese navy already possesses two conventionally-powered flattops and is building a third.But naval expert Li Jie told the newspaper that to be truly competitive, the Chinese navy needs a ship capable of generating lots of power and high speeds in order to launch large aircraft. "China really needs a more powerful, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to catapult its superheavy carrier-based fighter jet, the J-15," Li said."While China has good experience in the development of nuclear reactors for use on land, it has yet to master the miniaturisation process that is needed to make a nuclear power unit suitable for an aircraft carrier," South China Morning Post reported."China has strong naval building capabilities, but it is still very weak in nuclear miniaturisation. So it can learn from Russia," Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming told the newspaper.The Chinese fleet already possess nuclear-powered submarines. But the subs' reactors are poor candidates for transfer to a surface ship as large as an aircraft carrier. France learned that lesson a quarter-century ago, Zhou pointed out.> In a bid to cut costs in the development of the Charles de Gaulle – France's first and only nuclear-powered carrier – its designers used two K15 submarine pressurised water reactors as the main propulsion system.
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| 'Justice wasn't served': 50 years since Chappaquiddick Posted: 16 Jul 2019 08:13 AM PDT  The crash ended a young woman's life, and with it, a man's White House dreams. U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's Oldsmobile sedan veered off a narrow bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, an extension of the resort island of Martha's Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast, and plunged into a moonlit pond 50 years ago Thursday. Kennedy, 37, survived, but his presidential ambitions did not.
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| 'The answer is no': Boris Johnson warns Trump he won't support war with Iran Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:15 AM PDT  "If you were to ask me whether I think should we now... be supporting military action against Iran, then the answer is no."
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| Beto O'Rourke says he is descended from slave owners, supports reparations to unite 'two Americas' Posted: 15 Jul 2019 09:08 AM PDT  The Democratic presidential hopeful from Texas published a blog post in which he discussed his family's history and his support for reparations.
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| Jeffrey Epstein: diamonds, cash and fake passport found in raid, prosecutors say Posted: 15 Jul 2019 01:01 PM PDT  Accusers ask judge not to release him before trial and prosecutors say 'many individuals' have come forward who say they are victimsIn response papers filed on Friday, prosecutors said Jeffrey Epstein is dangerous and poised to flee. Photograph: Handout/ReutersTwo Jeffrey Epstein accusers offered emotional entreaties in court on Monday, asking a judge not to release the financier before his trial on sex trafficking charges.One alleged victim, who identified herself as Courtney Wild, said: "I was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, starting at the age of 14."The financier has been detained in an especially secure part of Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal jail in lower Manhattan, since his arrest earlier this month for the alleged sex trafficking of minors.Epstein, 66, pleaded not guilty last week. He appeared in court on Monday over his request for house arrest while awaiting trial – which prosecutors vehemently oppose. Judge Richard Berman did not issue a decision, saying he would do so on Thursday.Prosecutor Alex Rossmiller said the case was getting stronger. Since the investigation, which he described as a "covert" effort that took months, was unsealed, he said "many individuals" who have identified themselves as victims or witnesses have come forward.Rossmiller, who has repeatedly said Epstein's wealth would make it possible for him to flee, also cited unknown factors surrounding Epstein's finances.During a search of Epstein's Manhattan home, authorities found a "locked safe" containing cash, diamonds and an expired passport apparently with Epstein's picture but a "name that was not his". The passport, from the early 1980s, was from a "foreign country" and listed Epstein's country of residence as "Saudi Arabia".It was also revealed in court that Epstein's financial information disclosure, necessary for his bail request, ran to just one page.Rossmiller said the document lacked information on Epstein's assets, such as diamonds and art, "both of which were [found] in abundance" at his home.The one-page document was unsealed. It listed Epstein's net worth as $559,120,954, comprised of nearly $195m in hedge funds and private equity, $113m in equities, $57m in cash and $14m in fixed income, with six properties comprising the remainder.The document also said the market value of his East 71st Street mansion was just under $56m, not $77m, as prosecutors have claimed.Wild said publicity had not necessarily made it easier to come forward, as Epstein's attorneys have argued in court."He's a scary person to have walking the streets," she said, with a reserved air, wearing a white shirt and black trousers as she addressed the judge.The second accuser, Annie Farmer, stood and said: "I was 16 years old when I had the misfortune of meeting Jeffrey Epstein here in New York."She said it was difficult to come forward because of Epstein's "wealth and privilege". Berman asked if she was saying that Epstein engaged in sexual contact with her.She said: "He was inappropriate with me."The judge asked if she would go into details.She said: "I would prefer not to go into the details at this time."The attorney David Boies, who represents some Epstein accusers, told the Guardian: "This is a good judge and I know he will do what he considers the right thing."Lawyers for Epstein, who is a registered sex offender following a case in Florida 11 years ago, insist home detention and electronic monitoring and a mortgage-backed bond on his Manhattan mansion will be enough to stop him fleeing the country.Since his 2008 guilty plea to state prostitution charges and subsequent 13 months behind bars, he has been a law-abiding citizen, they have argued.Pressed by Berman on whether his clean post-incarceration record really indicates that he will stay out of trouble, Epstein lawyer Martin Weinberg said: "It's not like he's an out-of-control rapist."He does not fit within the paradigm," Weinberg added.Epstein's legal team said they would offer his private jet as collateral and a trustee or trustees could be appointed to live in Epstein's residence and report any violation. Weinberg also said Epstein would be willing to back his pretrial release with $100m.Prosecutors cited the potentially thousands of nude and seminude photographs of young females authorities found while searching his home as proof that Epstein remained dangerous. Rossmiller said authorities had identified at least one person in those photos "who has identified herself as a victim".Prosecutors maintained that electronic monitoring would just shorten a head start if Epstein decided to flee and dismissed his house arrest pitch as a request to live in a "gilded cage".They also alleged that Epstein wired several hundred thousands of dollars "to influence" two possible witnesses.Multiple accusers have asked prosecutors to seek Epstein's detention throughout his case, prosecutors said.Epstein, who purportedly had ties to Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other powerful men, is charged in a 13-page indictment with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy. It is alleged that some victims were just 14 years old.Prosecutors contend that from 2002 to 2005, Epstein "sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls" and paid some victims to recruit others "in order to maintain and increase his supply of victims".These accusers were lured to provide massages "which would be performed nude or partially nude", the indictment claimed, saying these massages would turn "increasingly sexual in nature, and would typically include one or more sex acts".Prosecutors have also claimed that at Epstein's New York home, "the massage room is still set up the same way it was 15 years ago", with sex paraphernalia and a massage table.The New York case comes amid increasing scrutiny of Epstein's prior case that was spurred by a bombshell Miami Herald investigation.In 2007, Epstein and the US attorney's office in Miami, then led by Alexander Acosta, brokered a deal that ended a federal investigation into allegations involving at least 40 teenage girls.Acosta resigned as Trump's labor secretary on Friday, following extensive criticism. Weinberg said the deal was approved by the justice department's former criminal division head, as well as a former deputy attorney general.
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| June was the warmest June ever recorded, but there's a bigger problem Posted: 16 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT  In 139 years of record-keeping, this June was the warmest June ever recorded. But June 2019 also revealed a deeper warming reality. The first half of 2019, January through June, finished up as the second warmest half-year on record, newly released NASA data shows. On top of that, each of the last five January through Junes are now the five warmest such spans on record. Only 2016 started off hotter than 2019. "At this point, the inexorable increase in global temperatures is entirely predictable," said Sarah Green, an environmental chemist at Michigan Technological University. She noted that NASA's updated data is added proof that climate models have accurately predicted Earth's continued warming as heat-trapping gasses amass in the atmosphere."As we have shown in recent work, the record warm streaks we've seen in recent years simply cannot be explained without accounting for the profound impact we are having on the planet through the burning of fossil fuels and the resulting increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations," added climate scientist Michael Mann, the director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University.Indeed, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, already at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years, are now accelerating at rates that are unprecedented in both the historic and geologic record."The latest numbers are just another reminder that the impacts of human-caused warming are no longer subtle," said Mann. "We're seeing them play out in terms of both unprecedented extreme weather events and the sorts of planetary-scale temperature extremes betrayed by these latest numbers."The warmest January through Junes on record.Image: nasa gissThe well-predicted consequences of this heating are now unfolding. Here are some, of many, examples: * Warming climes have doubled the amount of land burned by wildfires in the U.S. over the last 30 years, as plants and trees, notably in California, get baked dry. * Greenland -- home to the second largest ice sheet on Earth -- is melting at unprecedented rates. * The last 12 months have been the wettest 12 months in U.S. history, leading to widespread flooding around the nation (For every 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, of warming, the air can hold 7 percent more water.) * The Arctic is on fire. * Ocean temperatures are going up, and up, and up. * Since 1961, Earth's glaciers lost 9 trillion tons of ice. That's the weight of 27 billion 747s. * Heat waves are increasing in duration and frequency, while smashing records. * Daily high record temperatures are dominating daily low records. Overall, the atmosphere is experiencing an accelerated upward temperature climb, though there are some ups and downs within the greater warming trend. This is due to natural climatic influences, particularly from events like El Niño, which can give global temperatures an added kick. > NASA global mean June temperature is out! Guess what - it's been the hottest June on record. Definitely felt like that in Germany... climatecrisis FridaysForFuture pic.twitter.com/vkOFP22NNM> > -- Stefan Rahmstorf (@rahmstorf) July 15, 2019"The year-to-year variations of the global temperature may be affected by El Niño, etc., but in the long-term [global temperature] keeps increasing steadily," said NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies scientist Makiko Sato, who helped prepare the June climate observations. SEE ALSO: This scientist keeps winning money from people who bet against climate changeThis June was "easily" the warmest June on record, NASA noted, and overall, this year's January through June temperatures were 1.4 degrees Celsius (or 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above average temperatures in the late 1800s. Seasonal temperature trends.Image: nasa Giss2019 will almost certainly end up being one of the hottest years on record. This is in line with another stark trend. Eighteen of the 19 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 -- and the five hottest years have occurred in each of the last five years. (It's not just the first half of each year setting records.)"This is further evidence that temperatures will keep rising until government policies that decrease greenhouse gas emissions are actually implemented," emphasized Green. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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| 'One giant leap': US marks Apollo mission 50 years on Posted: 16 Jul 2019 08:33 PM PDT  Fifty years after a mighty rocket set off from Florida carrying the first humans to the Moon, a veteran of the Apollo 11 crew returned to its fabled launch pad Tuesday to commemorate "one giant leap" that became a defining moment in human history. "We crew felt the weight of the world on our shoulders, we knew that everyone would be looking at us, friend or foe," command module pilot Michael Collins said from the Kennedy Space Center. Collins remained in lunar orbit in the command module Columbia, their only means of returning to Earth.
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| U.S. Justice Department asks appeals court to pause antitrust ruling against Qualcomm Posted: 16 Jul 2019 02:10 PM PDT  "For DoD, Qualcomm is a key player both in terms of its trusted supply chain and as a leader in innovation, and it would be impossible to replace Qualcomm's critical role in 5G technology in the short term," Ellen M. Lord, Under Secretary for Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, wrote in a filing made in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Qualcomm, the largest supplier of modem chips that connect smartphones to wireless data networks, on May 21 lost in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year.
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| Southwest and Boeing had a 'reckless, greedy conspiracy' to keep the 737 Max flying despite knowing about its flaws, a new lawsuit alleges Posted: 16 Jul 2019 04:20 AM PDT  The lawsuit alleges Southwest has a unique relationship with Boeing, and that both companies knew about a fatal defect in 737 Max planes.
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| At least 1 dead, 15 injured — including 3 firefighters — in California house explosion Posted: 16 Jul 2019 09:05 AM PDT  A California gas company reports one of its employees died in an explosion Monday afternoon in Murietta, California.
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